houck



J. 0. HOUCK.

Wagon-Tongue Support.

No. 85,446. PatentedDec. 29, 1868.

N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHERI wAsmNGToN D c J; o. HOUC K, OF IOWA CITY, IOWA.

Letters Patent No. 85,446, dated December 29, 1868..

DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING WAG-ON-TONGU'ES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J. 0. 110cm, of Iowa City, in the county of Johnson, and in the State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Device for Supporting \Vagon-Tongues; and do hereby declare that the foilowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in the application of a spring to support the tongue of a wagon.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains, to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, which form a partof this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the running gear of a wagon, showing the position of the spring, and

Figure 2 is aside view, in section, of the rear part of the tongue, with the spring attached.

A represents the front axle;

B B, the hounds; and

G, the tongue.

The rear end of the tongue 0 is made of the peculiar shape shown in fig. 1, that is, with a frame, D D, which is inserted between the hounds, and through which the pin a is passed at the same time as it passes through the hounds and tongue, said frame leaving an opening on each side of the tongue.

A wire spring,-b, is twisted around the pin a, in the openings left on each side of the tongue 0, the ends of said spring extending towards the rear, and resting against the under side of the front axle A.

The middle of the spring b extends forward over the double-tree E, and is fastened on the tongue by a ring, 0, around the tongue, and a hook, (I, as shown in fig. 1.

Bythis arrangement, it will be seen that the tongue is always held up in a horizontal position.

Instead of using the ring 0 and hook (I to fasten the spring to the tongue, I mayus the wagon-hammer, which secures the double-tree. In that case, the'hammer will run over each side of the spring, and the spring will only extend as far forward as the hammer.

But, whatever mode of fastening is used, the intention is to chop the tongue when not in use, so as to not have the spring under continual strain, which tends to weaken it; besides, the tongue would not be in the way, as it would if sticking up.

By attaching the spring, in the manner-above described, the spring obtains a greater lever-power, and a comparatively light spring can be used for a heavy wagon.

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is' v The arrangement of the axle A, hounds B B, tongue G, pin a, and spring I), all constructed to operate substantially as-and for the purposes herein set forth.

.In testimony thatl claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand, this 31st day of October, 1868.

J". O. HOUOK.

Witnesses: 1

Lnoronn Evnn'r, ALEX. J. RIDER. 

